Heart Lessons: Painting
by applecherry
Summary: Lesson One: How to say 'Happy Birthday' and 'I Love You' as one in your own simple way. YA.
1. 2005

**Heart Lessons: Painting**

By: _aPpLecHeRrY_

Part one of three. One-shot birthday special. Happy Birthday Yoh!

**Warnings**: First, please be aware that this is a very short, nonsense, empty plot. Second, this is based semi-AU because I changed the place of their first meeting. Third, a character may be OOC, though, I don't know who. Last, I warn you of fluff. If you hate fluff, go away.

**Disclaimer**: --insert disclaimer here--

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Lesson One**_: _How to say 'I Love You' and 'Happy Birthday' as one in your own simple way.**

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_May 8, Sun: She's not herself, always in a deep thought._

_May 9, Mon__: She's nowhere to be found the whole day._

_May 10, Tue__: She's always on the room beside the piano room. Heck, if I didn't follow her that day, I won't even know there was a room beside it._

He looked over and studied again the notes he wrote. Tonight, he'll add another entry again.

_May 11, Wed__: I found a paint stain on an apron while doing the laundry. It's not the one I use. I think it's new. Weird. And on top of all that, no trainings, no commands, no sufferings since Sunday. What the hell is happening!_

He closed the notebook and lay down on his futon. 'What's with her?' he sighed. Not contented with a single sigh, he slowly stood up and carefully walked to her room just across his. Slowly sliding the shoji open, he peeked in. 'Sound asleep, I guess,' He walked over to her side and tangled his hands with her silky hair. He whispered to the air, "Tomorrow, I'll be 15," he paused for a while. His hands now went down to caress her face, "And I-" He came to a halt and withdrawn his hands when she stirred. A serene smile crept to his face. "I think it can wait," he leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead, "Goodnight," and he left.

Back to his room, though still not satisfied with tonight, he forced himself to sleep, for the next day, what will happen is not what he expect, not in a hundred years. Well, maybe if he thinks really, really positive, he would foresee it… Nah.

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He woke up with the sound of the sliding shoji. Thinking it was Anna, he murmured, "Good Morning," but when he opened his eyes, no one was there. Instead, he found a note posted on his shoji. 

_Hey, check out the room beside the piano room the moment you see this._

Tsk, tsk, typical Anna, but it was rare that she write notes on post-it's, it was mostly personally when she commanded. Sliding the door open, he paused midway and thought, 'Better do routines first, besides, she didn't know I already read this note,'

And so he did his routines first. After it, he went on his way to the said room. "Now I'll know what she's been up to for the past days," he whispered to himself.

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After seconds of thinking and rambling, he finally came to his designated place. Standing straight in front of the door, he just stared at it for a few seconds, inspecting the environment. Realizing it was no good, he slowly opened the shoji. Eyes widening, he was facing the shock of his lifetime. 

There, in front of him, was a stunning painting of the place where they first met. It was sunset in a field of green with a single cherry blossom tree growing beside the river.

_Sunset was taking place that time_. _I was lying on the grass and she was relaxing against the tree trunk. Our eyes met, I grinned at her, and I saw something in her eyes that I can't decipher back then. After the sunset, we departed without saying a word to each other. We didn't even know each other's name._

He smiled at the recollection. He walked forward to see the painting more. He was so absorbed with the painting, he didn't notice Anna leaning at the wall, eyes all directed to him.

He scrutinized the painting with awe. It looked so real, full of emotions. The moment he noticed Anna, she already spoke, "So, how's it?"

His shock doubled. 'So this is what she's been up to,' she walked behind him. He turned around to face her, capturing her into his arms and closing the gap between them with an open kiss.

Time stopped, or so they thought. Meeting the need for air, he broke away. Bravely enough, he looked straight to her eyes and said, "Thanks," and for the first time, she smiled at him with a glint in her eyes. She had just sent her message to him.

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"Goodnight Yoh, sweet dreams," she murmured as she relaxed into her arms and fell asleep. Oh, how fast time flies. He was just spending the day with her and his friends and now, it was sleeping time again. That morning, he had asked her to sleep with him in his room every night starting tonight, and surprisingly, she didn't decline. 

"Hmm, goodnight Anna, same to you," he replied as he hugged her tighter. He will never forget this birthday, for this day, he just received the most important message he badly wanted to receive from Anna. Not verbally though, even with just a simple kiss and a glint in her eyes, he received a 'Happy Birthday' and 'I Love You' from the most important person in his life.

"I love you too, thanks for everything," and he sealed that special night with a sweet, passionate kiss.

And the painting posted intentionally on the ceiling, served as a witness to their blooming relationship

**+Owari+**

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Hey peeps! You like it? You hate it? Well, I myself am not satisfied, really. Flames are welcome. 

Her painting was on the ceiling so that they will be able to see it will be the last thing they'll see at night, and the first thing they'll see in the morning. Nice, eh? It's the same way I stick my posters in my room.

I made it really short and fast coz I can't think properly because of my priority fic (_Nexus with a Departing Soul)_ in Naruto and my latest obsession, Xiaolin Showdown fics (RaiKim). Sorry if this seemed rushed, I promise to make the part two better. Take note of the ages, flashbacks, places, unfinished lines, etc. You may need it for part two and three of 'Heart Lessons'.

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Part Two: **Heart Lessons: Ring  
**To be posted on: _July 22: Birthday Special for __Anna

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_Biong, ate Meme (melukia), ate Sarah (Yohna), all this for you!_

Thanks a lot, please review,

**_aPpLecHeRrY_**


	2. 2006

**Disclaimer**: I'm sick. No suing a sick girl, okay?

**Notes**: You **_may_** or **_not_** read Lesson Two or Three. It's **_not_** a **_should_**. This takes place around a year after the previous one shot. So here, another short one shot. Beware of a little OOCs. Happy Birthday Yoh! Advance Happy Mother's Day to all the moms in the world!

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**Heart Lessons: Painting**  
_aPpLecHeRrY_

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Since receiving his previous birthday present, he became persistent, kept on asking his fiancée to show her pieces. Now, a year had passed, and she's now his precious wife. However, some things never change.

A young blonde walked through the corridors of the Asakura household, supporting and caressing her womb in one hand, and a bucket full of different things in another. She will be delivering a new life in a month, yet here she is, still making her way up in the attic, beside the piano room, and do her thing.

For the 358 days since she gave him her masterpiece as his birthday present, he often brings up the topic. Always asking questions like 'How did you learn? When?', 'Anybody taught you?' etc. And because she's under his surveillance almost 24/7, she can only do her thing whenever he's off training.

Right this moment was another of those moments. She gracefully worked with paints as time passed with flying colors; literally. Just when she was halfway done with her piece did she notice her someone behind the shoji. She wasn't really surprised at that, rather, she was expecting. It's been like this for a couple of days already: she would head for the exit just in time to see a figure rushing done the stairs. Although, today's visit was quite early as usual.

"Are you just going to stand there all day?"

He emerged from the shadows, "But you won't let me watch you or show me your works or teach me how or answer my questions or…" his whining continued. Nevertheless, she cut it short. "Then what are you doing here, standing there while I paint quietly, not shooing you away?"

He grinned. Yoh didn't take a seat nor move. He just stood there, rooted on the same spot, amusedly watching her work with glee. It was like magic when she works with those brushes.

After moments of a dose of her magic, he carefully moved around without her noticing and took a palette and some paint. He took a tiny paintbrush from the bucket and stood behind her in a grin, whispering softly, "Koi-chan,"

She shivered involuntarily and replied with a 'what?' To say the least, she wasn't irritated.

He rested his head on her shoulder. "Can I?" he smiled, "Pleeeaaaassse,"

She made no effort to respond to his plea; instead, she took her present work off the stand and put it aside, replacing the previous paper with a new one.

She simply stepped aside, giving him access to the workplace. Grinning as he dipped the paintbrush a little in the paint, the paintbrush was about to touch the white paper when he halted.

No words were needed as he felt her hand guide his, majestically creating a work of art with just a few strokes. When she felt he didn't need any supervision already, she let him work on his own and create his own piece. Standing by his side, she watched.

He flicked the paintbrush as a few trickles of paint flew in a certain direction. Craning his head to that particular angle, he saw tiny spots of red on her cheeks and her eyes directed on him.

He laughed humorlessly. Or should I say, nervously.

He shut his eyes. Honestly, he was expecting an outburst right there and then. But he received none.

Because his eyes were shut, he didn't know that she already had a brush in hand, dipped in a shade of brown. "Yoh, open your eyes."

And the moment he obeyed the command did he felt the wet brush stain a circle around his eyes.

"You look like a dog," she added a black spot on his nose, "and a stupid one at that,"

Anna stifled a laugh. He really does look like a dog. Nonetheless, her fun suddenly faltered when she saw the mischievous smile on his face.

"Really?" He said, a brush in hand.

Without any given moment to evade, she found herself having a red circle in each cheek. "Well, you look like a doll," he smiled, "a pretty cute blushing doll,"

Of course, it simply didn't end there. They didn't stop until they made each other a living portrait.

Days passed since the incident and the room was temporarily forgotten. Well, she thought it was.

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She woke up on a sunny Friday morning. Originally, she was planning to do a special breakfast that day since she didn't have anything prepared for his day. Although how can she do that if the person she's about to present that special breakfast woke up earlier than she did?

Seeing there's no other way in her present state, she stood to sit on their futon to adjust on the daylight. But it wasn't sunlight she saw.

"I was never good on doing realistic things, so I made abstract."

She smiled, she was supposed to be the one surprising him, not the other way around. Either way, "It's wonderful. Happy Birthday,"

He let go of the painting and went to envelope his wife in a warm embrace. His hand rested on her swollen tummy, "You've given the most magnificent gift I could ever have," his lips met hers, "thank you,"

"…and for being a great wife and a dazzling mother-to-be…"

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**OWARI  
**Review if you may. Constructive criticisms welcome. Reasonable flames accepted.

**Posted**: 051206  
I didn't proof-read this piece, pardon the mistakes. Who knows, maybe I'll post another one shot again next year.

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Heart Lessons: Painting © aPpLecHeRrY™ May 2006_**


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